1.9 BXE TDI Engine failure/replacement

[whoischris]

The engine in my 2008 Octavia estate (4x4) recently failed. I believe I was the victim of a common fault with the bxe engine, a seizure resulting in a conrod going through the block. I'm therefore looking to replace the engine as the condition of the car is good. I've had a quotation of £2700 for all the work with a "low mileage" replacement. Is this a good price? In my experience this is quite expensive, even for an engine replacement. Would it be possible to get the wisdom of the forum on this subject...

 

- Has anyone replaced a bxe engine and what's the average cost? 

- Does anyone know where best to source a replacement engine. Ebay is my main source at the moment but it's difficult to sift the crap from the good. 

- It would appear that most listings on ebay come as an exchange, is this common? As my engine is totally buggered is it valid for an exchange? 

 

As the car is a 4x4 I feel it's worth putting the work into getting a new engine. I have considered selling the car for parts and trying to source a new 4x4 but is it realistic to expect a decent Octavia estate 4x4 for around £4000? 

 

Cheers,

 

Chris 

[trundlenut]

Terminal failures like that of the 1.9 is pretty rare I should think. I can't recall of ever hearing anything like that happening before.

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[FatblokeVRS]

What about an engine from an insurance write off that's been hit at the back?

There are auctions selling write offs. There may be one in your area.

[MarkyTDI]

Terminal failures like that of the 1.9 is pretty rare I should think. I can't recall of ever hearing anything like that happening before.

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I've read about a fair few cases of this happening on 2007/8 BXE engines. There are a few instances here:

 

http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/a3-s3-sportback-8p-chassis/146231-bxe-engine-crap.html

 

 

My 4x4 has the BXE lump but I haven't read of any 2006 engines going pop. Its a shame if its the last few 1.9 that blot an otherwise execellent reliability record.

 

How many miles has yours done Chris? If its in good nick and has been otherwise reliable then I would get another engine dropped in. 4k will probably be a 2005 car with 120k miles plus I would think.

 

Mark.

[trundlenut]

I've read about a fair few cases of this happening on 2007/8 BXE engines. There are a few instances here:

 

http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/a3-s3-sportback-8p-chassis/146231-bxe-engine-crap.html

 

 

My 4x4 has the BXE lump but I haven't read of any 2006 engines going pop. Its a shame if its the last few 1.9 that blot an otherwise execellent reliability record.

 

How many miles has yours done Chris? If its in good nick and has been otherwise reliable then I would get another engine dropped in. 4k will probably be a 2005 car with 120k miles plus I would think.

 

Mark.

 

Flippin Heck!  Looks like an issue with a subset of the 1.9 PD engines.  I suspect the BXE was only used in the 4x4.

[nick74]

I think the BXE was fitted across pretty much the whole Skoda range at one point wasn't it?

[rwbaldwin]

I've seen one recently. Whilst it did have a broken conrod, the root cause was a major oil leak into the cylinder. I've seen two others. One was caused by continued driving after the oil pump failed (at 140k miles) and the other was 'unexplained'.

[silver1011]

There seems to be a link with most of the failures - oil starvation.

[Stormchaser]

Mine was a BXE too in an Ambiente hatch 2006. Perfect when I parted with it at 70K.

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[Affepaffe]

Has the BLS engine the same issues with broken conrod?

[Affepaffe]

Because I've seen in other forums that BXE and BLS is related. So my question is if BLS also is weak?

[tyreman1]

Just in the process of changing a BXE engine for a customer,2006 A3 with 70k and full service history just driving down the m4 and lost power without warning,number 4 conrod straight out the back of the block !!!,managed to pick up a secondhand BKC out of a 2008 Octavia for £775...poor guy was going to scrap it he was so distraught......looking on the bright side the clutch was shot anyway so he's saving the labour of having that done.

[Joellesonjia]

Just joined this forum after googling problems with the VW 1.9 TDi engine. My other half was driving home on the M40 last week when the engine blew on his 5 year old Octavia. 120k, full service history. It's wrecked! Checked the engine number and yes, it's a BXE!!  Skoda garage wants 6k to replace the engine and turbo  . Seems to be a lot of posts concerning this. What the hell is going on?

All of you that are surprised and haven't had any problems with your BXE engines.....there's time yet. I must say, apart from that the car has been great, so we're really disappointed. Will definitely be following this up. 

[rwbaldwin]

Because I've seen in other forums that BXE and BLS is related. So my question is if BLS also is weak?

All dealers will see failures on BJB, BKC, BLS, BSV and BXE engines as they have with every engine series ever produced. Compared to other engines in the same timeframe, I would not say they are weak at all.

The AFN, AGR, AHF, AHH, AHU, ALE, ALH, ASV, AVB and AVG engines were considered very reliable engines, but there were of course failures on these too.

[Affepaffe]

Ok. I've read many threads in other forums (Audi, Seat, VW, Skoda) and it seems like most cases with conrod failure is with the BXE engine. Is it because there are more manufactured BXE or is it the weakest engine of BJB, BKC, BLS, BSV and BXE?

 

And it seems like it's more and more people who tries to claim this failure against VAG.

Maybe VAG finaly have to do some refund to the affected customers. Who knows?

They did do it on the PD170 engine. A recall on the injectors and electrical harness. And that wasn't cheap. But that case was too obvious to get away with.

 

[rwbaldwin]

Ok. I've read many threads in other forums (Audi, Seat, VW, Skoda) and it seems like most cases with conrod failure is with the BXE engine. Is it because there are more manufactured BXE or is it the weakest engine of BJB, BKC, BLS, BSV and BXE?

And it seems like it's more and more people who tries to claim this failure against VAG.

Maybe VAG finaly have to do some refund to the affected customers. Who knows?

They did do it on the PD170 engine. A recall on the injectors and electrical harness. And that wasn't cheap. But that case was too obvious to get away with.

The danger of looking on the internet, is that often, only owners with a problem post on forums and they rarely post the root cause. Some forums attract owners with a subset of models/engines. Often it may seem there are a lot of failures, but if you add up all the internet reports (tend to be worldwide) the numbers are tiny compared to the number of cars sold.

From my own notes (not a scientific sample, variety of sources), there do seem slightly more BXE engines than the other four, where the root cause of the conrod failure has been found to be large oil leaks at the injectors into the cylinders. A small number of new cars failed because injector o-rings were missing from the factory. Injector lockdowns have failed due to improper reuse of components. Oil starvation is another cause.

There seem to be very few failures where the conrod 'just failed'.

[muunster19]

I have heard of conrod failures on bxe engines before , although I have notseen it , I have though have 2 2008 bxe 1.9 pd that have completed 220 k that have only had 10 k oil changes and 80k water pump and can belt . it must just be down to luck.